10 Things You Need to Know About Dating a Latina
So you're dating a Latina? There’s never a dull moment. Get ready for your life to become a whole lot more colorful. You're not just stepping into a relationship, you're diving headfirst into a world where family means everything, food is made with love (and secret spices abuela will never reveal), and every gathering turns into a mini festival. And let’s not get started on the holidays! Before you know it, you'll be dancing salsa in the kitchen, learning words of affection in Spanish, and understanding why family group chats never sleep. Quick heads up though—your life's about to get a major upgrade in passion. Here are 10 tips to make sure you stay in check!
1. There’s a little bit of bruja in us
If you haven’t accepted by now that our intuition is our superpower, just do yourself a favor and do so now. You might be with a Latina that fully embraces her witchy-ness (tarot cards, sage, incense, chakra and astrology books can be found scattered in her apartment), or one that gets frustrated when you didn’t listen to her the first time. Either way, it’s a bit eerie how many times you can count that she was right more than you were.
2. It’s important to be culturally sensitive and open-minded
If your family is also from the Latino culture, you are already well-versed on what’s deemed as culturally appropriate. But if you’re not, don’t hesitate to ask questions. The more interested and curious you are about our beliefs, values and traditions, the more excited we’ll be to teach you and bring you to family events.
3. Female empowerment is the name of the game
Traditions and stories in any culture are passed down by elders, and in our case they’re usually women. When we bring you to our family gatherings, notice that the heart of the party is the tía who’s had too much tequila and is ripe with hilarious anecdotes, or the abuela that’s sharing delicious recipes to the younger generations.
4. Yes, we love salsa, cumbia, and reggaeton, but we listen to a everything else, too
Yes, I know who Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond are. While most of our family parties involve blasting Prince Royce, Juan Gabriel or Celia Cruz songs, we don’t discredit other genres just because we can’t do a 1-2-3 count dance move to it.
5. We will never get over Selena’s death
NEVER.
6. Not all of us are experts in the kitchen
OK, I know that I’m not the only Latina here who needed a lot of time to master seemingly simple things like scrambled eggs or pasta! While many of us grew up hanging out with our mamás and tías in the kitchen—because let’s face it, that’s where the best chisme is—it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to be naturals with a frying pan. Plus, I know it took my mom years to perfect her own secret recipes, which in the end makes me feel more at ease as I find my cooking skills get better the older I get.
7. We’re late sometimes, not because we’re rude, but because we find comfort in savoring every moment
Since we tend to have big families, we’re used to moving at a pace that allows us greet and talk to everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) lest we be called rude by our elders. That go-with-the-flow pace comes into play before an event or date sometimes when we find ourselves taking an extra moment to finalize our outfits, our hair, and our overall vibe. We just want to make sure we look and feel like reynas, which we know you will appreciate later!
8. Expect passion and crying… lots of crying
Look, we were raised on a heaping dose of Catholic guilt and telenovelas. We have our seen our mothers star in real-life dramas that could win them Oscars for their performance. Although we may have unintentionally internalized some of the negative patterns that we saw growing up, we make up for it with deep heart-to-heart conversations and passionate makeups. At least you’ll never be bored, right?
9. Food can usually solve anything
It’s always safe to keep Hot Cheetos, Takis, or Gansitos in your kitchen if we say we want a snack. When say we’re full-on hungry, throw out the following suggestions: tacos, jibaritos, tortas, tostones, empanadas, entraña/churrasco (skirt steak sizzled to Colombian or Argentinian perfection). I guarantee one will be the winner. If all else fails order a pizza from our favorite place—as long as you just feed us, dammit!
10. We love it when you dance with us, even if you (or we) have two left feet
Again, we’re not all born with J.Lo’s dancing skills, but we do love to laugh and have fun. And if we can share our happiness with the man that finds us beautiful in every way (even if we keep stepping on his toes on the dance floor), it sure does make life so much sweeter.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments below.
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